Ankara ready to bring 'new nightmares' to those using terrorism to target Türkiye: President Erdogan

By Alperen Aktas and Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) – Türkiye is ready to bring “new nightmares” to those who are trying to bring the country to its knees with terrorism, vowed the nation's president on Monday.

“We're ready to bring new nightmares to those who think they can bring Türkiye to its knees with a terrorist formation along its southern borders,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan after chairing a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, referring principally to the PKK, based across the border in northern Iraq, and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG/PKK.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot.

“Issues concerning our borders with Iraq will be permanently resolved this summer,” Erdogan added. PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq, across the border, to plot attacks on Türkiye.

He also said that Türkiye is determined “to establish a security corridor along its borders with Syria, extending 30-40 kilometers (18.6-25 miles) in depth,” a step it tried to take with previous pacts with US and Russian forces in the region, agreements that Ankara says were not followed.

Urging a unified Islamic world "like bricks of a wall, especially for Gaza," he said: "The solution to the (Gaza) problem lies in achieving effective and resolute international consensus.”

"Türkiye is doing its best for Gaza and Palestine, it will continue to do so," Erdogan added.

Last fall, a contact group was formed by the regional countries along with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League to push for a cease-fire in Gaza and the establishment of a state of Palestine along the pre-1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7. The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed over 30,000 people and injured nearly 72,000 others, with mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.